The role of women in Mongol society was relatively high by the standards of the medieval world, and women played important roles in the political, economic, and religious life of the Mongol people. The Mongols were, by the standards of the medieval world, a relatively egalitarian society, and women had a number of rights that were unusual in the medieval world.
The most important of these rights was the right to inherit property. The Mongol customary law allowed women to inherit property, and the property was divided among the heirs according to a fixed formula. The right to inherit property was unusual in the medieval world, and it was a major factor in the relative independence of Mongol women. Other important rights included the right to divorce, the right to own property, and the right to participate in religious and political life.
The Rights of Mongol Women
The rights of Mongol women were unusual in the medieval world, and they were a major factor in the relative independence of Mongol women. The most important of the rights was the right to inherit property, which allowed women to accumulate wealth and to pass it on to their children. The right to inherit property was unusual in the medieval world, and it was a major factor in the relative independence of Mongol women.
The other important rights included the right to divorce, which allowed women to leave a marriage that was unsatisfactory; the right to own property, which allowed women to accumulate wealth and to use it as they wished; the right to participate in religious and political life, which allowed women to play important roles in the community; and the right to ride and to hunt, which allowed women to participate in the activities that were central to Mongol life.
The rights of Mongol women were not, however, unlimited. The Mongol customary law gave the senior male of the family a significant degree of authority, and the women were expected to obey the senior male in many matters. The rights of Mongol women were also limited by the fact that the Mongol customary law was not codified, and the rights could be ignored or modified by the local authorities.
The Political Role of Mongol Women
The political role of Mongol women was unusually high by the standards of the medieval world, and a number of important women played major roles in the political life of the Mongol Empire. The most important of these women was Sorghaghtani Beki, the wife of Tolui and the mother of Möngke, Kublai, Hulagu, and Ariq Böke. Sorghaghtani was a Nestorian Christian, and she was one of the most important political figures of the thirteenth century. She was the chief adviser of her sons, and she played a major role in the Toluid Civil War of 1260-1264.
The other important women in the political life of the Mongol Empire included Börte, the wife of Genghis Khan and the mother of his four sons; Töregene Khatun, the Ögedeid regent who effectively ran the empire between 1241 and 1246 and who was the mother of the Great Khan Güyük; Doquz Khatun, the senior wife of Hülegü and a Nestorian Christian who reportedly interceded for Christians during the sack of Baghdad in 1258; Mandukhai the Wise, who re-united the Mongols of Mongolia in the late 15th century; and Khutulun, the great-granddaughter of Genghis Khan and a famous warrior princess of the Kaidu–Du’a line.
The political role of Mongol women was not, however, limited to the imperial family. Mongol women played important roles in the administration of the empire, and they served as governors, judges, and tax collectors. The political role of Mongol women was a major factor in the success of the Mongol state, and it was one of the most distinctive features of Mongol society.
The Economic Role of Mongol Women
The economic role of Mongol women was, by the standards of the medieval world, unusually broad. In the pastoral economy, women were responsible for milking, the processing of dairy products, the weaving of felt, and the making and repair of clothing — the work that kept the household and the herds going. They were also active in trade (often as the principal dealers in livestock, dairy, and textiles) and in the crafts, especially textile and leather production. The household economy — the management of the camp and the education of the children — was treated as a real economic role, not a private one.
The economic role of women was also a quiet enabler of the Mongol military: while the men were on campaign for months or years, the women ran the herds, the household goods, and the day-to-day economy. This is one of the more solid reasons for the “high status” framing; the de facto economic role was not in dispute.
The Religious Role of Mongol Women
In the religious life of the Mongols, women held two of the more clearly defined roles. They were the keepers of the family shrines and the principal maintainers of the ancestor cult: in a society without a temple-building religion, the household shrine was the centre of religious practice, and the women who ran the household ran the cult. And they were the principal practitioners of shamanism: the most common word for a Mongol shaman was uduyan (or idugan), which is grammatically female; the male shaman (bökö) was the exception. Women of the Borjigin and Onggirat clans, in particular, are recorded as uduyan in the Secret History.
The principal religious institution of the Mongol state — the khatun of the imperial household, the head wife of the khan — also carried a religious dimension. The khatun supervised the religious life of the household and the court and was, in some sources, expected to intercede with Tengri on behalf of the people.
The Mongol Harem
The Mongol imperial harem was an important institution of the Mongol state, and it played a major role in the political and cultural life of the empire. The harem was the residence of the wives, concubines, and female relatives of the khan, and it was a major center of the political and cultural life of the empire.
The harem was organized along hierarchical lines, with the principal wife at the top and the concubines and servants at the bottom. The harem was responsible for the management of the imperial household, and it played an important role in the education and upbringing of the imperial children.
The harem was also a major center of the political life of the empire. The women of the harem were often important political figures, and they played a major role in the succession disputes and the political intrigues of the imperial court. The harem was, in this sense, a major center of the imperial power, and it was one of the keys to the success of the Mongol state.
The Legacy of Mongol Women
The legacy of Mongol women is visible in a number of ways. The most obvious is in the political life of the successor states, where women continued to play important roles. The most famous examples are the regents of the Chagatai Khanate (Töregene’s daughter-in-law Qutui Khatun and Ebuskun in the 13th century), the women of the Golden Horde who were politically active in the 14th century, and the Empress Möngke of the Yuan court. In the modern era, the most famous single example of this tradition’s persistence is the modern Mongolian women’s political movement; Mongolia has had a higher-than-average proportion of women in parliament since 1990, and Sainkhüügin Oyuun-Erdene served as Foreign Minister (2016–2017) and as Speaker of the State Great Khural (2020–2024). But it is worth saying plainly that the “tradition of strong women” is also a modern narrative: the Mongolian steppe of the 13th century was patriarchal in a number of ways that the cluster’s “high status” framing can understate, and the modern phenomenon is shaped at least as much by Soviet-era education policy and post-1990 democratic politics as by Mongol precedent.
Sources
- Jack Weatherford, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens (New York, 2010).
- Anatoly M. Khazanov, Nomads and the Outside World (2nd ed., Madison, 1994).
- David Morgan, The Mongols (2nd ed., Oxford, 2007).